Forming and driving composite piles.



1n concrete, which have militated against their adoption by engineers.

UNITED STATES PATENT camion4 MAXWELL M. UrsoN, or ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, AND HERMAN n. SMITH, or NEW YORK, N. Y. l

FORMING- DRIVING COMPOSITE PILES.

Application filed J une 3, 1916. Serial No. 101,456.

and HERMAN R. SMITH, citizens of the.

United States, residing at, respectively, Englewood, county of Bergen, and State of New Jersey, and New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Forming and Driving Composite Piles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descripion.

Certain conditions have developed in the use of composite piles, z'. e. those composed part of wood and in part of reinforced practical method of holding the wood pile in its connection with the driving pipe or mandrel so that a vertical position of the ultimate structure is assured. Another is the diiculty of making a safe joint between the. concrete and the wood sections. A. satsfactory pile must have a practically uniform cross sectional strength in order to withstand any uneven lateral action. Thisis accomplished in elements of this character by reinforcing rods, which are secured to the wood either by screw construction or other suitable method andembedded in the superimposed concrete, the concrete having a known and definite frictional value in its contact with the steel. Furthermore, owing to the. method of construction heretofore used, the concrete portion has had practically the same frictional carrying capacity as the wood portion for the reason that the concrete portion of the pile has been of a uniform cross sectional area, which provides only. vertical frictional area. struction shown in the present method, the concrete portion of the pile has a uniform taper and consequently provides greater friction and materially increases the carrying capacity of the pile.

This invention deals with the three diiculties thus stated, and which Ahave not heretofore been met in an entirely satisfactory manner.

While eiorts have been made to get a satisfactory composite pile wherein the concrete is pre-cast and attached to the wooden member and then the entire structure driven, such 'efforts have been open to the' objection that the operation of driving tends One of these is a' In the conto shatter the concrete, particularly at and about the zone of union with the wood as well as about the head of the pile, thereby impairing the structure. In driving the pile, we use a collapsible mandrel tted snugly with an outer sheeting of. suitable material, preferably sheet metal, which at its lower end is secured by a boot to the to of a wooden pile or sectional piling, whic makes "a substantial water tight joint between the said casing or sheathing and the pile. The bottom of the lower end of the mandrel contains a circular opening into Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

which is fitted the top of the wooden pile.

This provides a rigid connection between the mandrel and the wooden .pile and assures a vertical alinement of the wooden pile during its emplacement. The mandrel extends to the bottom of the sheeting and contains a driving core with a he'ad which, when all the parts are assembled, rests on the top of the wooden pile and drives the latter, togetherwith the sheathing, to any4 depth that may be required below the water or the surface of the ground.

The parts are so constructed and arranged that when the wood pile has been driven to the required depth, the mandrel is collapsed and withdrawn from the sheathing, leaving the latter as an extension of the pile and adapted to be filled-with concrete up to the desired level. the advantage of carrying power due to the compression of the adjacent earthv when driving atapered pile and in maintaining this compression during the periodv while the form is being illed, is provided in the upper or concrete portion of the composite structure. l

In order to convoy a clear idea of the plan which we follow in uniting the concrete and wooden portions of the pile and driving the same to place, we preface the specific description hereinafter given with the following somewhat general statement:

The wooden end and provision for the concrete portion of the completed pile comprising the corrugated metal casing vor sheathing are primarily united by a Water tight joint, so that after the wooden pile is driven, the concrete may be packed into the superposed shell and united directly to the Wood, while water and silt are excluded by It will be observed that all the watertight joint referred to. Moreover,

the concrete portion, as well as the wood, may be made tapering, so that the upper surface area as well as the lower compresses the surrounding earth and makes a stronger support for any load which the pile may be called upon to support than if the pile were made with straight sides, as has been heretofore required.

Another feature of improvement resides in the use, in connection with the driving core of the mandrel, of a movable perforated head through which rods screwed into the end of the wooden pile extend when the parts are assembled for operation. This head drops down to the end 0f the truncated end of 'the tubular core of the mandrel before the latter ispassed on the top of the wooden pile, so that the reinforcing rods which complete the union of the concrete and wood may be readily and'easily passed up through the holes therein.

These and other details of our invention will be described more fully by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure l is part lof a central vertical section of the means for forcing and driving the composite pile, and p Fig. 2 is a similar view of the complete pile, after the driving mandrel has been withdrawn and the corrugated casing lled with cement vor concrete.

The means for driving the pile comprise an exter: .i expansible 'or collapsible tubular mai'drel A and an inside driving core B. Over the former, which is tapered, fits la casing or' shell C of corrugated sheet metal wrapped or wound with a wire D and carry- Y ing at its lower end a boot E, which is composed of a ring F and a cup-like extension Which surrounds the en d of the sheathing. The lower end of the mandrel tube extends to the bottom of this annular cup, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The lower end of the driving core B'is secured to a head H, from which depends a tube K and an extension L of the driving `core, the extreme end of which fits into a socket in a driving head M.

This driving head is supported by rods N connected to slides O, which are adapted to travel in vertical slots P in the tube K, and when the wooden pile R is not in place the head M falls away from the extension L to the end of the outer tube-A.

It is not necessary, for purposes of this case, to 'describe in any detail the construction or operation of the expansible mandrel, vas this isa well known part of the prior art. Suffice it, therefore, to say that, when a pile is to be formed and driven the boot E, secured to the end of the corrugated casing or sheathing C, is passed down over the round and somewhat smaller end of the wooden pile R and made tight.

In the end of the wooden pile are screwed end of the tubes A and K' the rods G which extend upwardly for a sucient distance therefrom to become firmly embedded in the concrete when that is packed into the casing C to securely unite and solidify in an integral structure the wood and the concrete.

When, therefore, the wooden pile and the casing C have been united, the mandrel is introduced into the casing and the rods Gr are caused to pass up through perforations in the head M. As the latter drops to the registry of the rods G in these holes isvery greatly facilitated.

After the wooden pile R, with the attached casing C, has'been driven to the required depth, the mandrel is collapsed and withdrawn and the casing C packed nwith concrete, thus forming 'a reinforced concrete pile so securely anchored to thewooden portion R as to form an integral composite pile of any desired length and size.

In many respects the specific construction i of the parts illustrated may be modified without departure from the invention, as will be readily perceived by those skilled in this art.

When we specify a water tight joint, it is intended to designate such a joint as will preventvthe entrance to a substantially injurious extent of water, silt or other foreign matter.

upper end, a tapering shel oricasing of sheet metal of the dimensions of the upper portion of the completed pile, introducing into such casing a tight fitting `expanding mandrel provided at its lower end with a hollow rigid portion that fits down over the upper end of thewooden pile until the mandrel rests on the top lof the wooden pile, driving thereby the casing and thewooden pile, then collapsing and withdrawing the mandrel and filling the empty casing with concrete.

2. The method of forming and driving composite piles of ywood and concrete which consists in uniting by a water-tight Joint to Aa wooden pile at a point below its upper end, a tapering thin vsheet metal casing which is ultimately to constitute a form for the concrete portion of said pile, introducing into said casing a correspondingly shaped and tight fitting expanding mandrel over the 'upper end of the wooden pile, so as to maintain the latter in vertical position, driving thereby the casing and the Wooden pile,then collapsing and Withdrawing the mandrel and lling the empty casing above the wooden pile with concrete.

3. The .method of constructing and driving alcomposite pile` of Wood and concrete, which consists in forming 'a tapered structure, the lower end formed 0f a Wooden pile which is extended in the form and dimensions of a nished pile by a casing ofthin" sheet metal united to the wooden pile by a water joint at a pointbelow the upper end of the same, inserting into the casing and down over the end of the wooden pile'therein a tight fitting expanding mandrel, driving thereby the said Wooden pile and its attached casing, then collapsing and Withdrawing the mandrel and packing the casing above the Wooden pile with concrete.

In testimony whereof We afix our signatures in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. w MAXWELL M. UPSON.

f HERMAN R. SMITH.

v Witnesses:

H. E. CLDNAN, y THEO. C. STERNBLAD. 

